Two states at the center of gay rights protests over laws designed to 'uphold religious freedom' are engaging in hurried climbdowns today, with both moving to alter legislation that critics say legalizes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Indiana lawmakers unveiled this morning an amendment its already-in-effect law clarifying that no one will 'be able to discriminate against anyone at any time.'

The Arkansas legislature was also poised to pass changes to its legislation after the state's Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson rejected its bill at the last minute on Wednesday following public uproar and a personal plea from his son.

The two, GOP-controlled states were in a frenzy to quell national outrage over legislation meant to satisfy evangelicals who do not believe they should be compelled by the government to provide goods and services to certain customers if doing so would violate their religious convictions.

The moves had the direct effect of upsetting gay and lesbian individuals, however, and incited massive protests.

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Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma speaks at a press conference announcing changes to the state's religious freedom law as Senate President Pro Tem David Long, left, looks on. The GOP leaders said today that they would add anti-discrimination safeguard sto the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Opponents of an Arkansas religious objection measure chant 'We Are Arkansas' as they face the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock on Wednesday. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson earlier Wednesday said he wants the legislature to either recall the bill from his desk or pass a follow-up measure that would make the proposal more closely mirror a 1993 federal religious-freedom law

UNDER FIRE: Indiana Governor Mike Pence said Tuesday that he'd support changes to his state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that clarifying that it doesn't legalize discrimination.

After gay rights activists, sympathetic businesses and celebrities thrust the measures into the national spotlight, both states found themselves in the cross-hairs, and even Republican lawmakers began to distance themselves from the laws as written.

Republican leaders in the Hoosier State conceded this week to critics arguing that their state's law, signed into effect by Governor Mike Pence a week ago today, inadvertently left room for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

'It was never intended to discriminate against anyone,' Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long said this morning at a press conference.

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In addition to the already protected classes of persons, the new language specifies that businesses, individuals and other 'providers' cannot refuse to do business with the basis of their sexual orientation.

Exempted from the new rules, however, are churches and non-profit religious organizations, including schools, according to the Indianapolis Star, which received an early look at the draft language.

After adamantly defending the state's law in the national press, Pence suddenly said Tuesday that 'it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone.'

The 180 earned him the mocking of the White House, which described him as a 'previously defiant governor' who changed his position after a 'bipartisan and even nonpolitical outcry.'

Demonstrators hold signs on the steps of the Arkansas state Capitol thanking Hutchinson for calling for changes to the religious freedom measure. A new version of Arkansas' law is now making its way through the statehouse. The altered bill would more closely mirror federal legislation

A new version of Arkansas' law that is making its way through the statehouse would more closely mirror federal legislation.

The fixes passed the state's Senate last night and will now be considered in the House.

Hutchinson on Wednesday had requested the legislative changes, saying he could not sign the bill until they were made.

'How do we as a state communicate to the world that we are respectful of a diverse workplace and we want to be known as a state that does not discriminate but understands tolerance?' he said during a press conference outside the state Capitol.

'That is the challenge we face. Making this law like the federal law will aid us in that effort in communication, but also was my original objective from the beginning.'

Conservative lawmakers said they didn't appreciate the slap in the face from Hutchinson, who had said numerous times in the past that he would approve the legislation in its current form when it reached his desk, but they worked to make the necessary adjustments just the same.

'I don't feel it was right for the governor to say he was going to sign something that he watched all the way through and didn't sign,' state senator Terry Rice told Arkansas Online. 'I know things come up at the last minute but now we have hodgepodged some bills together.'

That sentiment was shared by Arkansas Family Council, a group that favors the law and pushed to get it passed.

'I'm very puzzled at this point to see why the bill would need to be amended at this late date, considering everybody in the chamber has had a chance to see it,' Jerry Cox, the group's leader, said. 'I think it's been thoroughly vetted, and it's a good law.'

A family-owned pizzeria in Indiana that said it wouldn't cater same-sex weddings shut down until further notice on Wednesday after the owners received threatening phone calls, and the establishment's YELP page was flooded with bad reviews

Indiana, the first of the two states to pass the offending religious liberty legislation, saw a fierce backlash over the weekend and early this week that included thousands of protesters descending on the state Capitol and a prominent local business cancelling a planned $40 million expansion of its headquarters after Pence formally approved the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Hutchinson, who took office just two months ago, undoubtedly wanted to avoid an uprising of equal intensity in his own state.

The Arkansas-based retail corporation Wal-Mart publicly lobbied the Republican politician not to approve the bill, labeling it as discriminatory.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, a family-owned pizzeria, Memories, that said it wouldn't cater same-sex weddings shut down until further notice on Wednesday after the owners received threatening phone calls and the establishment's YELP page was flooded with bad reviews.